Twain

My background has been kayaks. Hardshell, inflatable, single, tandem, open deck, spray skirt, angler, foldable and the list goes on. A week ago my first true "packraft" arrived. A packraft is basically an inflatable kayak that uses still rugged but much thinner or lighter materials and leaves out non essentials like handles, buckles, straps and so on to save on weight. I chose the Kokopelli Twain Packraft as it is a tandem design. I go out mostly with my significant other and we like to stay together when we do so a tandem was essential. So to start out, I'll talk a little about the tandem aspect of the Twain. A) Its one of the only tandem packrafts out there. B) Its 10 feet long which is as small as you can go and still be tandem but the way its designed leaves a little more room in the rear than in the front. C) Due to its length (I'm used to 12+ feet for a tandem) there isn't as much room for storage up top with the paddlers. D) My wife felt she was a little squished in the front as it tapers to help with tracking (which by the way it does pretty well). But that means that she has several inches less room than I did in the rear. Design... A) The design and build quality is great. Check their product specs for details but basically high quality tpu coated nylon 210 and 410 denier fabric, doesnt feel like it would rip or puncture easily while weighing in at only 13 lbs. B) The shape is a cross between an inflatable kayak/canoe and a traditional packraft. The back of the twain is actually designed to allow partial recline of the rear paddler and is actually VERY comfy. C) The additional of the inflatable seats and back straps make for relatively easy paddling and keep the feet below you butt to facilitate the power stroke. D) the packraft is a 2 tube design which increases the safety aspect. However instead of doing a right pontoon and a left pontoon (there is no inflatable floor to save weight instead using a rugged kevlar style floor that feels pretty stable) the twain uses a front and rear pontoon. This leaves it just "slightly" and I do mean slightly, mushy in the very middle of the packraft. Youll notice that even when its inflated to capacity there is a very tiny crinkly you can't get out in the middle. Also if the front and rear paddlers are too close together it bends a tad. If your both spaced out fine and the pressure is where its supposed to be it wont affect anything. But in the middle of our first 8 mile paddle the temperature changed and we lost a little air pressure and it felt very piggy. We needed to top it up after which it handled fine. GEAR... The packraft has 4 tie down nylon straps on the front and 2 on the rear as well as an optional tizip (which I included) with room for 6+ dry bags Setup and Takedown I made a brief video showing in real time how to set it up. https://youtu.be/tmKDt_WvKp0 From start to finish it is about 8 minutes set up and about 15 minutes to take down including drying. It folds into a very small size about 2 paper towel rolls or a medium size sleeping bag. Tracking... So I mentioned the shape which is sort of arrow shaped smaller in the front than the rear with a small rocker on the bow. This makes for a good track. Its also 10 feet long which combined with the narrow build slides through the water pretty nice. There is also a small fin thats removable on the rear bottom that also aids in tracking. Feels like a nice smooth ride. On flat water with no waves it was fast and easy to paddle. Even fun. With a lot of boats or in bad weather with a chop it was sluggish. With the current it tracks perfectly. All in all, I like it. Its put together well, it handles nicely, and its rugged and feels like it could take a beating, AND it is packable hence the packraft name.